Memphis Grizzlies star, Ja Morant, faces a fine of $ 75,000 from the NBA after making finger gun gestures twice during Thursday night’s game against Miami Heat, ignoring the NBA warnings of the NBA hours before.
“The League office previously warned of Morant that this gesture could be interpreted negatively,” the League said in a statement to NBC News on Friday.
Morant made the celebration gestures during Thursday’s game, a battle that the Grizzlies won 110-108 after Morant hit the winning basket of the game in the last second.
The NBA investigated Morant earlier this week when he and the friend of the Golden State Warriors, Hield, used the fingertips with each other at the end of their game on Tuesday night, which ended with a 134-125 Warriors victory.
Both players and teams were issued by the NBA without penalty, according to Shams Charania de ESPN on Thursday. The League determined that the celebrations were not violent, but inappropriate and would not be used anymore.
Morant told The Associated Press on Thursday that he was “aware” that the gesture was news after Tuesday’s game and that criticism did not bother him.
“I am a bit used to it,” said the Guard of the Grizzlies. “I was practically a villain for two years. Every little thing, if someone can say something negative about me, he will be out there. Then, yes. I don’t care more.”
This is not the first time that the NBA has taken energetic measures against Morant for incidents related to weapons; He faced two suspensions on the matter in 2023.
The first was a suspension of eight games to broadcast live with an apparent weapon in a nightclub in the Denver area, followed by a more severe suspension of 25 games when it stirred a weapon on Instagram Live from the passenger seat of a car.
Morant did not immediately respond to a request for comments from NBC News.
The Grizzlies are ready to play on Saturday at 7 pm against the Detroit Pistons.
